Drug tests await some workers

AIKEN --- If you work for Aiken County and drive a government car, get ready to be tested -- just not on your road skills.

Hundreds of county workers will be subject to random drug tests under a new policy, which has county council members wondering why they're forced to single out just those workers.

A provision the council recently added to its proposed vehicle-use policy says that if you drive a county car, you might be asked to take a cup with you into the bathroom. Employees who don't drive county cars won't have to do so because the county has been advised against putting all employees in the testing pool.

But if the county can't randomly drug-test all of its employees, then why are companies allowed to? That's what board members want to know.

"How do other companies get away with it if that's the case?" Councilwoman Kathy Rawls asked. "I think you work here, we should have the expectation that you're drug-free."

County Administrator Clay Killian said the county's Columbia-based labor attorneys have been asked to look into it further. But Mr. Killian, who has worked in three other South Carolina counties over the past two decades, said none of them randomly drug-tested either.

Drug testing employees has been a controversial legal subject since Congress passed the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988, which helps employers tailor policies on the subject.

Supporters of drug testing say it helps guarantee a drug-free workplace. But those who've fought it say randomly testing employees -- who might not have shown any signs of drug use -- violates workers' Fourth Amendment protection from unlawful searches.

Many states have modeled their drug-testing laws after the federal act, which allows for pre-employment and random testing, in addition to testing after "reasonable suspicion."

But not all employees can be subject to random tests, which is the question before the county.

What Aiken County's labor attorney has said, Mr. Killian explains, is that the county shouldn't do it.

"I don't know why," Mr. Killian said. "We do it pre-employment, but we don't do it after-employment. And I don't know why."

The county tests employees in three instances: pre-employment; after an auto wreck, regardless of fault; and if they file a workers' compensation claim. Some other workers are subject to random tests if they have certain driver's licenses, he said. The sheriff's office has its own drug-testing policy because of the nature of workers' jobs.

The vehicle-use policy would add random tests for those who drive county vehicles -- likely half of Aiken's 850-person work force.

Aiken County has a zero-tolerance policy, Mr. Killian said, so an employee who fails the drug test is fired.

In the past 12 months, 71 people were tested for drugs under the county's testing policy, either after an accident or because they undergo random tests, such as sheriff's employees. None failed, Mr. Killian said, but in the past others have been fired after testing positive.

Reach Sandi Martin at (803) 648-1395, ext. 111, or sandi.martin@augustachronicle.com.